Sync with climate or perish

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Climate change can never be reversed, experts say, though they had been advocating mitigation measures for decades. One has to take heart and accept the hard truth that summers will only get hotter, they say.
That is the reason why globally countries are giving adaptation measures more importance than ever. Since drought is expected, they are investing in developing more drought-tolerant crops. There are many other measures which are being tried out internationally so that adaptation can complement the good-old mitigation strategies.

In such a scenario, can we as individuals do it so that we are better adapted to a warmer earth? We certainly can, according to Shailendra Yashwant, advocacy and communications advisor, Climate Action Network, South Asia. “Abroad, you have a separate pricing for the renewable and non-renewable grids you choose. In India recently we have brought in feed-in tariffs. So I’ve to start questioning where my electricity is coming from and is there an alternative. It starts with this consciousness,” he says.

S. Ushakumari, who is the executive director of Thanal, an NGO, offers a few more ideas. “Can we eat uncooked food once a day? Can we start using LED lights more? Can we start depending on green architecture using eco-friendly materials and reducing non-renewable resources like iron and cement?” she asks.

But an idea she repeats is planting trees if the compound has a little space available. “If there are just five cents available, one should plan houses in such a way that there is space for some greenery. The built-up structure should not take up all the space in the house,” she says.

She suggests that mango, jackfruit and such trees ideal for Kerala should be chosen. “Sometimes people would cut down trees only because clearing the compound of leaves is difficult. Instead of cutting trees, the leaves could be turned into compost and these grow bags in turn could be used to grow more plants on rooftops,” she says.

Organic farming, according to her, is not just a mitigation strategy. “The nitric and nitrous oxides produced from synthetic fertilisers are global warming gases. Chemical agriculture significantly contributes to the emissions. Whereas when we opt for organic farming, the emissions will reduce. Moreover, the soil capacity to retain moisture will increase. Its carbon sequestration increases when we plant new saplings. So it is very much an adaptation strategy,” she says.